Snippets
by aquaXtreme
Summary: Little snippets of life for various characters. All while waiting for the voyage to Greece and for the search for the Roman camp.
1. Worry

Everywhere Piper went, someone would be talking about either the search for the Roman camp or the journey to Greece. And, frankly, she was getting sick and tired of it. As if she needed to be reminded about them! She spent most of her days worrying and most of her nights were plagued by dreams (or nightmares, rather). She definitely did not need the gossip flying around camp being added to that list.

Piper adjusted her position as she lay on the beach, far away from everybody else. The Gods knew that she needed that little bit of peace and quiet if she wanted to stay sane. Besides, it had been a while since she'd relaxed or even had a little time to herself. Nowadays, she spent most of her time at Bunker 9 helping Jason and Leo plan…well…everything, really. She sighed as she pushed those thoughts out of her head. If this was the only bit of rest she'd get for a while, then she was going to take full advantage of it. Regardless of anything else.

She listened to the waves lapping gently against the shore, creating a sound that was slowly lulling her to sleep. The warm heat from the sun made the temptation of taking a quick nap irresistible, even if she was outside and on the sand. In fact, she could feel herself pulling away from reality as she gently closed her eyes…..

"You alright?"

Piper didn't need to open her eyes to know who the voice belonged to. She'd dreamt about that person loads of times, it'd be amazing if she hadn't recognised him.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

She felt Jason lie down next to her.

"You seem…. distracted."

"Trust me, I'm not."

A few minutes of silence passed by.

"What were you doing here by yourself?" Piper heard him shuffling.

"I just wanted to get away from it all. The whole camp's buzzing about our quest and….it's getting on my nerves."

"Are you sure that's it?"

"Pretty sure," She frowned as he chuckled quietly. "What's so funny?"

"It's just that, when you're not charmspeaking, you're a terrible liar."

Piper quickly sat up.

"That is so not true!"

She glared at him when he didn't even bother responding. Piper flopped back down onto the sand.

"Yeah well….you're terrible at lying too. In fact, you're even worse than me!" She snapped as she faced the sky.

"Whoa, calm down," Jason teased.

"Shut up," She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Tell me what's really bothering you," Jason turned to face her. She looked at him and sighed.

"A lot of things."

"Like…" He prompted.

"Like our voyage. Plus the search for the Roman camp."

"You're not the only one worrying about those things."

"I know, I know. But, what if something goes wrong?"

"Then we'll fix it. Like we always do."

"What if it's….unfixable?"

Jason raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"That won't happen."

"How are you so sure?" Piper asked as she frowned.

"Well, we've got a daughter of Aphrodite who can charmspeak a goddess into going back to sleep," Piper blushed a light pink as he smirked at her. "A son of Hephaestus who has a magical tool belt and awesome culinary skills, a daughter of Athena who helped save the world from Kronos once before and you've got me," Jason grinned. "That's how I'm so sure."

Piper smiled.

"I hope you're right."

"So do I."

"You do know that if anything goes wrong, I will be pinning it all down on you?"

Jason sat up.

"How come I get all the blame?"

"You just do."

"A valid reason, Piper," He claimed sarcastically.

"I thought so too," She grinned at him.

Their eyes met and she felt like the whole world had vanished, leaving only her and Jason. Everything else really didn't seem to matter anymore. All her worries disappeared as she thought about what he'd said.

"Piper, I-"

The conch horn sounded, signalling that it was time for dinner. She frowned.

"Sorry, what were you about to say?"

He hesitated before standing up and offering her his hand.

"It doesn't matter."

Piper took his hand and stood up. She brushed the sand from the back of her clothes.

"You ready?" He asked. She nodded and, together, they slowly made their way towards the dining pavilion.


	2. What If?

**_Forgot to add one of these notes on my other capter. Silly me. Anyway, I got a bit bored so I thought I'd update a bit faster which, I know, is a wonderful surprise to all of my fans out there *crickets chirp*. Oh alright, calm down! Sheesh. So here's another Snippet. Hope you like it :)._**

**_Disclaimer: I(unfortunately) do not own any Heroes of Olympus or Percy Jackson and the Olympians characters. Sure wish I did though..._**

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Leo gritted his teeth together. If one more person came up to him and asked about the Argo II, he was pretty sure he'd punch them. Maybe not so hard if that person was a girl. Maybe not at all if she was way out of his league. But he'd definitely do some harm to them!

The stress, pressure and expectations were beginning to have an effect on him; sleep was something he could rarely get, his days were spent hidden away at the forges, his social life seemed to be non-existent and his brain seemed to be thinking way too much about the consequences or problems. Leo lay down on his bed, too exhausted to do anything else. He was the only person in the cabin at that moment for which he was glad of. He guessed that everyone else was at the forges like he'd been all through the night. A tiring business but one that had to be done if they wanted to sail by the summer solstice.

Leo groaned as someone knocked on the door. He really wasn't in the mood for visitors right now. He might be after the whole camp left him alone for at least 5 minutes of peace. The person outside knocked again, more urgently this time. He grumbled, reluctantly climbing out of bed. He opened the door and gave Travis Stoll a hard glare.

"What's up, dude?"

Leo shut the door in his face.

"Come on, man! I just need to ask you something. It'll be really quick!" Travis pleaded. Leo sighed before opening the door once again.

"Better be quick."

"Ok, this is serious stuff I'm going to ask you so don't laugh or joke around or anything like that!"

Leo raised his eyebrows. A son of Hermes was ordering someone to _not _joke around? Must be something really important then.

"Ask away. Better not be about the ship though," He warned.

Travis took a deep breath and a sense of urgency washed over Leo.

"Am I, or _am_ I, better than Connor? In, like, every aspect possible?"

Leo growled menacingly.

"_That_ was the important and urgent news? How in Hades was_ that_ serious?"

Travis gasped in shock.

"It's like you don't even know me!"

"I don't. Not much anyway," Leo gave a small shrug before slamming the door shut and falling into bed. He clambered underneath his covers and took a deep breath in, rejoicing at the fact that he might finally get a good sleep.

_Knock, knock_

Leo flung his duvet off of him and grabbed his hammer.

"This dude's dead," he muttered to himself before angrily throwing the door open. "Chiron!"

The centaur stood on the other side, mildly taken aback by Leo's aggressive stance.

"Do you greet everybody with a hammer or is this just for me?"

Leo laughed nervously before placing his hammer back in its place.

"Sorry about that. I'm just a little tired."

Chiron raised an eyebrow.

"I can see that."

Leo quickly invited him in, ignoring the yawns that were threatening to come out.

"Sorry, the cabin's such a mess. We've been busy with all the planning and building for the ship," he apologised hastily as he gathered up some blueprints and notes that littered the cabin floor.

"That's actually why I'm here."

Leo blinked.

"To tell us off for being messy? Because if you are, let me just say that all of this," he pointed to the sweet wrappers, pieces of paper and pens that lay on the floor. "was not my fault!"

Chiron chuckled.

"Don't worry. Your cabin is off the hook for cleaning inspections etc since you have to build the ship and everything else and we're not exactly expecting you to have cleanliness at the front of your minds," Leo sighed in relief. "but the least you could do is have some level of hygiene in here."

Leo laughed guiltily.

"Anyway, what I came here to talk to you about was the Argo II," Chiron smiled gently but frowned when Leo groaned.

"Not you too. No offence, Sir, but I just came back from the forges and I'm knackered! I haven't had any sleep in Gods know how long! And when I finally get a chance to take a nap, it seems that everyone in camp suddenly wants to talk to me!" So the last part wasn't strictly true; it had only been Travis who'd disturbed him but he was allowed to exaggerate, wasn't he?

"Maybe I should come back later," Chiron suggested as he turned around.  
"No," Leo sat on his bed. "I'm sorry about that little outburst. It's just that…it seems as if everyone's depending on me. Everyone keeps coming to me about the Argo and asking me questions or asking for my advice. Normally, I wouldn't mind the attention but…but what if it all goes wrong? Then all the blame's going to fall on me. Everyone's going to think that it's my entire fault. I'll just be known as that Valdez kid who messes up on everything he does."

Chiron sighed and walked over to the young demigod.

"You're a son of Hephaestus! You'll be perfectly fine with the Argo II. This whole camp has faith in you and your cabin's abilities. Besides, if you weren't perfect for the job, the Fates wouldn't have picked you, would they?" Chiron asked as he motioned towards the childlike drawing of the ship, lying on the bedside table.

"I know that. But what if I fail? It just seems like all this is way too much for me. I mean, a few weeks ago, the most important thing I did was get a C on my exams. Now I'm building a boat? To sail all the way to Greece? It's just…I can't…" He trailed off, feeling useless as he nearly always did.

"Leo. There are times in every hero's life that proves difficult, that always seems to be the biggest obstacle that can never be fixed. These are the things that determine whether a hero really is a hero, whether he can rise up to the challenge and overcome it or give up and run away," Chiron smiled comfortingly. "Heroes may be born with every superpower possible or have none at all but, to be called a hero, they must never give up, never look back and keep charging on. That is when a person-gifted or not- becomes a hero. Even if nobody recognises it."

A few moments of silence passed by in which Leo slowly thought about Chiron's words.

"Did you memorise that speech off by heart and feed it to every depressed demigod in this place? Or was that just a special something for me?" Leo grinned. "Thanks, Chiron. I really needed that."

"It's part of my job. Now go get some sleep and I'll make sure that nobody disturbs you for a while." Chiron ordered as he made his way to the door.

"Yes mum." Leo mock saluted.

Chiron simply shook his head and left the cabin without another word. Leo tucked himself into bed and yawned. He shifted around until he found the perfect spot and fell into a deep sleep, one which wasn't full of _what if_s.

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**_Well there you go! Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please review. Reviews do mean a lot to me and it helps me have some motivation to actually keep on going! I'll update soon(hopefully) if I have a fair amount of reviews._**


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